Webb eyes hosting World Cup

The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football president Jeffrey Webb wants the region to host the 2026 World Cup and claims any candidate for the FIFA presidency post-2015 would need to support the organisation’s ambitions to receive its backing.Webb said he has held meetings with United States Soccer president Sunil Gulati, along with Canadian and Mexican counterparts Victor Montagliani and Justino Compeán to discuss bringing the World Cup back to the region.

“For us, I think it was unfair for our confederation to miss 2022,” Caymanian Webb said. He is planning to shut down the CONCACAF offices in New York and relocate in Grand Cayman.

“It doesn’t matter for me – it’s 41 members – whether it’s the United States, Mexico or Canada,” Webb said. “I believe it’s so important for us as a confederation to host the World Cup in 2026.

“That will have been 32 years, which would have been the longest span since World War II that we have not hosted a World Cup as a confederation.”

CONCACAF last hosted the World Cup in 1994, when the US staged the tournament.

The US failed in its bid for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments and Webb is still smarting from the decision to award the former event to Russia. That decision abandoned FIFA’s traditional rotation policy for the World Cup, which had it remained would have seen a CONCACAF nation awarded the rights.

Brazil will host the tournament next year and although there have been widespread condemnation and demonstrations of the vast monies spent in building new stadia and improving the infrastructure, hosting World Cup is still seen as a long-term financial coup.

Stars like Neymar, David Luiz, Hulk and the captain Thiago Silva are under pressure to secure the coveted trophy for the hosts for a record sixth time. With FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s current term of office due to end in two years, Webb claimed that CONCACAF will only endorse a presidential candidate who supports the region’s bid for the 2026 World Cup.

“It comes down to sports politics,” he added. “I’ll be very frank and very open with you that whoever the next president of FIFA becomes, for any support to come from CONCACAF, that must be one of the overarching objectives and commitments to this confederation – that 2026 will come to CONCACAF.”

Brazil will host the tournament next year and although there have been widespread condemnation and demonstrations of the vast monies spent in building new stadia and improving the infrastructure, hosting World Cup is still seen as a long-term financial coup.